Thursday, December 21, 2006

Cherry Almond Cakelets

If you liked the look of my mother's birthday cake, then here's the recipe.

Usually this cake would be made with pears, as pears and almonds are one of the great flavour marriages. But since we are in cherry season I've taken advantage of their abundance and included them in this cake.

Of equal importance is the topping - a mix of flaked almonds and sugar and the special extra ingredient Pearl Sugar. Pearl sugar is great as it doesn't melt and keeps it's shape, adding to the crunch of this topping. It's a battle of willpower not to eat all the topping from the cooked cakes.

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl - then stir in the caster sugar making sure it's well mixed.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk, butter and almond essence, then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir until just mixed.

Scatter in the drained cherries and then fold these through taking care not to overwork the mixture.

Three quarter fill your moulds then sprinkle over with some flaked almonds and caster sugar and for a little extra crunch, some pearl sugar.

Bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F oven for 20-30 minutes or until golden and cooked through. If you feel that they are browning too quickly, lower the temperature.

Place on a wire rack to cool.

For this batch I've made 6 cakelets using 6cm/2.5 inch square moulds and 2 stars using 12cm/5 inch diameter moulds - if you like you can use other shaped moulds or even make it as one normal sized cake.

Haalo, this has got to be one of the best combinations ever - cherries and almonds! Wonderful!

The cakelets look so beautiful too (I'm partial for the big cake, being a star maniac). lol

These would make the most lovely Xmas gifts, I'm sure.

About your truffles - simply perfect!! I'll be posting them, if it's OK for you, of course. I couldn't find those beautiful edible glitters your used, so I coated them with cocoa powder + gold powder (a very fine glitter, I don't know the name in English).

Tks for sharing. The recipe is so good that I can think of different fillings for it.

Thanks Patricia - I'm quite partial to the stars too.I can't wait to see how the truffles turned out so I'll be looking forward to your post - the gold powder sounds lovely and decadent. I'm really happy to know they worked out for you!

Haalo - Serve me almonds in almost anything and I am a very happy camper, which is probably why I'm drawn to Middle-Eastern and some Mediterranean desserts. Almonds + cherries is one of my favourite combinations. These cakelets look dreamy. Good on you. All the best for 2007!